Thai Purple Rice Pudding
Published June 2nd, 2006 in Dessert
This was inspired by a recipe in Gourmet, but it’s so simple that I’ll just give you some guidelines. The type of rice you use will have a lot to do with what sort of process you should follow. The original recipe called for black rice, but I found this Thai Purple Sticky Rice at Greenstar the other night and I couldn’t resist it. Brown rice will work too, but you may have to cook it longer. If you can find it, the purple rice is definitely worth it for the luxurious color and the interesting texture.
Essentially, one cup of rice is cooked with three cups water and 1/4 teaspoon salt for about 45 minutes to begin. I feel that the purple rice might not need quite as much, so I’m probably going to use 2-2.5 cups next time. You can always add more water if the rice starts to get too dry. You want the rice to be fairly soupy though, so just eyeball it as you see fit, whether you like the pudding thicker or thinner. Bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer with a tight-fitting lid on.
After 45ish minutes, stir in a half cup sugar, another pinch of salt, and not quite a full can of unsweetened coconut milk (you want to save some for drizzling later). Bring it to a boil again and then turn down to a simmer again, uncovered, until it thickens up. Take it off the heat and continue to stir every so often until the pudding cools to a warm temperature. Then, FINALLY, you can eat it, being sure to top with some of the remaining coconut milk.
My first attempt turned out very tasty, albeit a tad more soupy than I would prefer. The purple color would also be striking with the addition of some nice ripe mangoes.
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Hi Steph, thanks for your comment on Tea & Cookies. This purple rice dish looks gorgeous. I recently had an experiment with purple rice, but your recipe sounds delicious. I will have to give it a go. Thanks!
Of course it would be even nicer if I actually spelled your name correctly–sorry! I should not be reading blogs so late at night…
I am kind of touchy about my “f”, but you get points for noticing the mistake! Bravo! Also, late night blog-reading is the only way to go…
You found the right rice. What Gourmet is calling “black rice” is the same thing as the “purple sticky rice” sold in Asian stores.
Good to know! Especially as I found this rice in the bulk bins and it was much cheaper than the “black rice” in the tiny bag at the supermarket.
I found “black rice” for $1.29 a package at Ithaca Tofu in the Small Mall. It’s just a tiny bit shorter grained than the Thai rice. When I lived in Boston, my friend Mai - who is Vietnamese - used to take me to this hole-in-the-wall grocery in Chinatown at 7am for breakfast. They served the purple sticky rice warm with shredded coconut and mango topped with a banana leaf stuffed with coconut rice. It wasn’t soupy at all - just sticky. No spoons - everyone used the banana leaf roll as a pusher and their hands to take it all in. Had not really thought about that for about 15 years until I read your post.